It was good that this train station was so pretty to look at, because we had over an hour before our next train arrived. It wasn't long before I decided I needed to hunt down a restroom. I finally found one downstairs, complete with a guard and baffle gate that accepted euros. You had to pay to pee. I'm sorry, but no. Maybe that's just the ignorant, entitled American in me, but I was not about to pay to use a public restroom. I held it. Like a champ. All the way to Cinque Terre. Some might say that was prideful and unhealthy, but at least I'll have a few extra euros to spend at the doctors.
We had good company in our train car on the way to Monterosso; another couple from Oregon with an itinerary that eerily matched ours. We traded stories of our trip, so far and advice for future travels. I only wish we had exchanged info! (If you are reading this right now, we hope you liked Rome!)
So, I had read many reviews about Cinque Terre... some said it was a quiet little string of fishing villages untouched by tourism or commercialism and others said that thanks to a very well known travel author (not me, in case you were wondering) the place was crawling with tourists and had lost it's charm. We're happy to report that all charm is intact and you definitely need to go here! Yes, there were (a lot) of tourists. When we pulled up to the station in Monterosso, we thought, 'oh no!'. You couldn't even see the platform there were so many tourists! As soon as the doors opened they rushed on to our already full train like they heard a tidal wave was coming. We were convinced that the nay-sayers had this one, but they obviously didn't make it past the train stations. Once you arrived and entered each of the tiny villages, the crowd dispersed and it was magical. On multiple occasions, I said out loud, I feel like I'm in one of my pinterest pictures! ....Well, I was.
Our Airbnb was in Riomaggiore. Our host, Anita (who we recommend again and again, highly!) found us in the crowd at the station and greeted us with a welcoming, 'Ciao! Welcome to my Country!'. She swept us away from the busy platform and led us through a tunnel lined with mosaic seascapes. When we stepped out of the other end of the tunnel, she stopped and took time to explain things to us. The village center was to our left. 'This is where the crowds go that aren't staying in this village. You can get your Cinque Terre card here and there are many restaurants and souvenir shops.'
We continued straight down a staircase beneath a sign that said MARINA. After winding our way through for a moment, the walls opened up and we were standing here:
Everything was picture perfect. It was like a dream. The waves gently crashed against the rocky shoal and the ocean breeze cooled everything down. Anita graciously showed us to our apartment, complete with freshly picked lemons from her own garden and a nice bottle of wine. She told us that, if we like to hike, there was a small trail that not many people knew about that had the best views of all of the villages. We had just enough time today, if we hurried. So, we hurried!
We dropped our bags, used the restroom (finally!) and headed in the direction of this path-less-traveled. I will admit, there were moments on that trail when we questioned Anita's judgement. The trail was very sketchy in some places and the climb was so steep. We thought, can the view really be that good?
Let me tell you something important. A free little travelers tip: never doubt a local. When we reached the top, there sat a beautiful historic church, bell tower and all and the views were everything Anita said they would be.
We rested at the top for a while, taking in the unbelievable view, before we decided to make the trek back down. It was at about this time that Daniel noticed a second path. Not the path that we came up on, but surely "a path that would get us home quicker." Famous last words, right? Well, I have to give this one to Mr. Dorn. The path was a bit more rough and steep, but halfway down was a little gelato place on the edge of the cliff where I had the best stracciatella gelato of my life, while enjoying this view of Riomaggiore. Ten points to Daniel!
By the time we got back to the Marina, we were exhausted and starving. We sat outside for a nice seafood dinner. We ordered a bottle of local white wine, oysters on the halfshell as an appetizer and a mixed fried seafood and veggie plate. It was delish! Unfortunately, the food was too good and we were too hungry to stop and take any pictures. Just trust us, it was amazing.
After dinner, as tired as we were, we were still so excited to be there that we couldn't go to bed just yet. We explored all around our quiet little marina until we could barely keep our eyes open anymore.
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